My teenage daughters have been eating poorly lately. I leave before they wake in the morning and they don't get home from school until 4:30 at which point they gobble down junkish food like pretzels, bread, crackers. I suspect they are not eating breakfast or lunch due to waking up late and just general laziness. At dinner they usually won't eat vegetables and sometimes not even beans.

I'd like to try smoothies for them. I do not make smoothies for myself because I like to eat rather than drink food so I know nothing about what to make. I would like to put greens in but if they can taste or see them, I'm sure they won't drink it. What greens do you put in? Could I use frozen? How much fruit do I put in? What about yogurt? How long will it keep. I'm thinking I will blend it either night before or before I leave in morning so all they have to do is grab it on the way out the door.

if you put in spinach and blueberries the blue will take over the green of the spinach. but even if you just make them smoothies that should be healthy enough! you can also sneak some ground flax or chia seeds in there for omega 3s.

I've never used a recipe for smoothies. i just dump a bunch of stuff in the blender because pretty much no matter wghat you do, smoothies taste good. I usually use a combo of OJ and Soy or Almond milk.

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i have a real problem getting the family to drink the smoothies. Even though they taste absolutely amazing. If it's green, they just can't do it. It is frustrating. even worse, we don't get blueberries here so there's no way to disguise the green. except i guess if it's brown, which just doesn't work too well here.

you can make a decent fruit-only smoothie, maybe with some mylk, that you could make all pretty-like.

i'd say you need to avoid the strong tasting greens (kale, collards) and start with something nice like a red lettuce or swiss chard, just a few leaves. no need to overwhelm. i find that spinach or beet greens are almost undrinkable for me, and i love greens, i'd just rather eat them than mix them with fruit.

There have been times when I've put the smoothie in a dark glass (i have some cobalt blue glasses) with a crazy straw, and that works quite well. i imagine a sports bottle might do even better, but would be a bisque to wash.

My favorite smoothie recipe is this, see if you can get them to taste it and put it in a glass where they can't see it, and get them to at least try a bit.

juice 4 oranges2 bananas (fresh or frozen)4 leaves of chardblend up and voila.

Baby spinach is nice and sweet in a smoothie, but torque is right- the taste is fantastic, but the color is a turnoff for some! I love mango + blueberry + spinach.

ijustdiedinside wrote:

I've never used a recipe for smoothies. i just dump a bunch of stuff in the blender because pretty much no matter wghat you do, smoothies taste good. I usually use a combo of OJ and Soy or Almond milk.

This is what I do, too, and only once in my history of smoothie making has it ever tasted bad and I've had to pour it out.

In my experience, you can't really blend them the night before- if you're going to add greens, they're a blend then drink right away sort of thing. I don't know if anyone else can offer different advice on that?

. . . what if you made them some super wholesome breakfast bars or muffins that the could take with them?

They wouldn't eat them. They would eat a chocolate chocolate chip muffin from dunkin donuts though. They don't think it is cool to eat healthy. They hate being different from their friends who are eating doritos and starbuck's for breakfast, patties and pupusas for lunch.

These girls ate EVERYTHING until they started school and then over the last 10 years have cut out most things that are good for them. Recently they stopped eating apples and bananas! Really they make me crazy.

I'm bummed about the smoothies. I'm going to try them without greens anyway to see how they hold up. The smoothies would be in the fridge for an hour between me making them and them drinking. At least they would be getting some fruit and milk.

Whizz in the magic bullet and Bob's your uncle and all that.I have from time to time been tempted to add spinach for the craic but usually weasel out of it by 'forgetting'.Oh and this can be left at room temperature.

if they aren't eating anything then just fruit smoothies would still be awesome for them. also, i think most kids tend to eat terribly during their teen years despite the awesome food their parents might make. my mom made awesome healthy food every night and i would just go get a burrito and i usually skipped breakfast. it won't harm them in the long run.

_________________I am not a troll. I am TELLING YOU THE ******GOD'S TRUTH****** AND YOU JUST DON'T WANT THE HEAR IT DO YOU?